The national government authorized a new rise in gas that will once again punish the pocket of users from next March. The Ministry of Energy approved the natural gas prices that will be in force by 2023, one of the components of the invoices that must be paid and transferred to users by the distributors. The increase determined for the price of the product will be around 28.3% and, it is estimated, its impact on the final price paid by the residential consumer will be slightly more than 14%.
The new regulation establishes that the producers awarded the Plan Gas.Ar and Enarsa (Energía Argentina) must invoice the gas sales to the distributors with the new values at the Point of Entry to the Transportation System (PIST). The National Gas Regulatory Entity (ENARGAS) will also continue to provide monthly information to distributors regarding users in terms of segmentation by income, which will determine the level of subsidies, although the value of gas will remain fixed.
As anticipated last week by the nation’s Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, during 2023 there will only be a single update in the cost of gas of 28.3% for those users who do not request to maintain subsidies or are of high income, that is, those who collect more than 3.5 basic baskets per month, equivalent to 510,818 pesos. In the case of Level 3 (middle income), they will also receive an increase, which, as in Level 1, will contemplate increases in the value of the fluid, transportation and distribution.
The official said, in reference to those who receive lower income, that “there will be no increase in the value of natural gas for users registered in Level 2, whose only annual increase will be concentrated in the components of transportation and distribution.” On the other hand, the Registry of Access to Energy Subsidies (RASE) is still open on the website argentina.gob.ar/subsidies and anyone who has not registered may do so to notify their income and, if applicable, continue to receive subsidized gas.
This increase is the fifth that has been applied to the gas rate since June of last year. And there is still one more increase, corresponding to the update of the remuneration to carriers and distributors. Regarding distribution, the sector, in a virtual public hearing held last week, requested a recomposition that averages 200% to be applied in February, to then add quarterly adjustments that will take as parameters the evolution of inflation and increases in prices. industry costs.
According to sources cited by the specialized media EconoJournal the reconstitution of the Added Value of Distribution and the transmission margin will be around 80%, approximately half of what the private companies claimed in the public hearing. That way, an impact of up to 35% would be generated in the final bill that users will pay as of March and if the increase in the cost of gas set this week is added to that, the total increase that users who do not receive subsidies will have to face and those of average consumption would be in the order of 50%.
If all the aforementioned increases are taken into account – the one made official yesterday and the latter, planned – the final rates will have increased between 150% and 170% for high-income users. This will be strongly felt next winter, when gas consumption also rises due to low temperatures.
